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Skurge (Earth-616)
; frequent partner of Amora the Enchantress; former member of Baron (Heinrich) Zemo's and ; | Relatives = | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = | Gender = Male | Height = 7'2" | Weight = 1100 lbs | Eyes = Blue | Hair = Black | Hair2 = (balding, or partially shaved, with mustache and/or goatee) | UnusualFeatures = | Citizenship = Asgard | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = Warrior, warlord; former co-ruler of Casiolena's realm | Education = | Origin = | PlaceOfBirth = Jotunheim | Creators = Stan Lee; Jack Kirby | First = Journey Into Mystery #103 | Death = Asgardians of the Galaxy #10 | Quote = | Speaker = | HistoryText = The illegitimate son of a Jotunheim Storm Giant and a goddess born in Asgard's Skornheim, Skurge was ostracized by the Storm Giants for his relatively diminutive size. He grew to be a great warrior and giant-killer, earning the "Executioner" epithet during one of Jotunheim and Asgard's many wars. Though made an Asgardian citizen, Skurge chose a solitary life due to his grim disposition and perceived non-acceptance by the Asgardians, but fell in love with and became passionately devoted to the beautiful goddess Amora the Enchantress. Physically attracted to Skurge and perhaps even loving him somewhat, Amora nonetheless toyed with him, withholding her favors to keep him in thrall. Amora allegedly imbued Skurge's ax with its space and dimension cleaving powers. Over a millennium ago, Amora led Skurge to ally with Asgardian mischief god Loki Laufeyson, hoping to trick Loki's adoptive brother, thunder god Thor Odinson, into releasing Jotunheim's giants on Earth, but Thor overpowered Skurge and drove back the giants. At least twice, Skurge was summoned into the modern era's relative future by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, once opposing the Fantastic Four and once against the Thor-derived heroes the "Thor Corps." In recent years, Amora - hoping to seduce Thor at Loki's request - enlisted Skurge to eliminate Jane Foster, would-be lover of Thor's mortal incarnation, Don Blake. Skurge banished Jane to an extra-dimensional limbo but was overpowered by Thor and negotiated to return Jane in exchange for Thor's mystic hammer, Mjolnir. Enraged at his betrayal, Amora magically assaulted Skurge, forcing him to relinquish Mjolnir back to Thor for protection; Thor returned Amora and Skurge to Asgard, where ruler Odin Borson punitively stripped Skurge of his ax and helmet, and banished him and Amora to Earth. Seeking mortal guidance, Amora contacted Heinrich Zemo, offering to join his Masters of Evil to help defeat Thor and the Avengers. Disguised as Zemo's allegedly repentant former aid Hans Grubervelt, Skurge led Captain America (Steve Rogers) to depart to his archenemy Zemo's base. Amora then ensorcelled Thor, making him fight the Avengers, but Iron Man (Tony Stark) disrupted Amora's influence with reflected sunlight. The Masters fled in Zemo's ship, which Thor warped away. Trapped between the "sixth" and "seventh" dimensions, Skurge battled Zemo's ship free from the immense and lonely resident Vertiplasm's destructive embrace, and Amora transported them to Zemo's base. Skurge assisted Zemo in further failed plots against the Avengers involving alliances with Wonder Man (Simon Williams), time-master Immortus (Nathaniel Richards) and the savage Hulk (Bruce Banner). During the latter encounter, Skurge used ax and helmet replicas fashioned by Amora and Zemo. After Skurge and Amora freed former Masters the Black Knight (Nathan Garrett) and Melter (Bruno Horgan) to assault the Avengers, Zemo apparently died battling Captain America. Amora and Skurge retreated to escape banishment to the Reverse Dimension by Thor, and the Masters disbanded. To distract Thor from an impending Odin-sponsored competition between Thor and Loki to resolve a difference between the two, Loki persuaded Amora and Skurge to threaten Jane Foster. Odin dispatched the light god Balder to protect Jane until Thor arrived, and Skurge and Amora again fled. Seeking to disrupt Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and Sue Storm (Invisible Girl's wedding day, Dr. Victor von Doom used his Emotion Charger to summon Skurge and numerous super villains. Skurge battled both the heroic mutant X-Men - during which Skurge lost his ax and helmet duplicates - and Captain America before Richards used the Sub-Atronic Time Displacer to banish the villains back to their prior locations. Skurge somehow arrived in the alternate Earth-6676's 25th century; there, as'the Evil One," he led warriors using giant tripod walkers against King Arrkam, hoping to return to Asgard as a conquering hero. Coincidentally transported there by a T(ime)-Ray weapon used against him by the US military, the Hulk nearly defeated Skurge before the T-Ray's effects faded, returning the hulk to his own time. Back in his own time and recovering his ax and helmet, Skurge joined Amora as minions of the Mandarin, who sought large diamond quantities to power his allegedly world-conquering weapon. In Asia, Skurge and Amora were aided by Asgardian trolls and opposed by the Avengers' Hercules and Scarlet Witch. Hercules shattered Skurge's ax handle and then used Skurge to disrupt Amora's magically created warrior, incapacitating both Asgardians; the Avengers foiled the Mandarin's plot. Regaining his ax and back in Asgard, Skurge joined Amora and trolls in a plot to conquer the kingdom, whose warriors Amora magically weakened. However, the Hulk, transported to Asgard by Loki for unrelated reasons and secretly aided by Odin, stopped Skurge and the troll army. For these crimes, Odin banished Amora and Skurge to a netherworld. Casiolena, the ruler of this or a nearby realm, seduced Skurge away, and he ruled by Casiolena's side for a time, gaining magical power there. Skurge and his army defeated and imprisoned all traveling to that realm, including Amora and the ensorcelled Black Knight (Dane Whitman), and the heroic Defenders with the demon-maddened Barbara Norriss. Amora bonded Norriss to the essence of the Valkyrie Brunnhilde, who helped them defeat Casiolena, Skurge and his forces, after which Skurge departed with Amora. The pair soon sought the metaphysical destiny power somehow instilled in the harmonica of Celestia Denton (Barbara's mother), but were thwarted by Dr. Stephen Strange, the Thing (Ben Grimm) and Valkyrie. They later joined Loki in a plot to conquer Asgard. After they failed to intimidate Asgard into surrendering via a massive army of magically animated armor, Loki earned Asgard's respect by "defeating" the army, and claimed its empty throne. Loki had Skurge and Amora abduct a weakened Odin to prevent him from retaking rulership, but the villains fell into a deep firepit during an ensuring struggle with the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg); reviving, Odin reclaimed his throne. When the fire demon Surtur threatened the entire universe, Skurge and Amora joined Asgard's forces in battling Surtur's massive fire demon army on Earth. Skurge and war god Tyr Odinson led armies key in the fire demons' defeat. When Skurge sought out Amora in Asgard, however, she humiliatingly spurned Skurge, having become infatuated with the god Heimdall. Seeking solace in battle, Skurge joined Thor in traveling to Hel to retrieve trapped mortal souls. However, Hela's agent Mordonna impersonated Amora and led Skurge away, and Hela subsequently sought to disgrace Skurge as a traitor to force him to join her. Skurge exposed Mordonna's duplicity and used his ax to shatter Hela's ship, Naglfar, with which she planned to destroy Asgard, though the ax was also destroyed. As the gods fled Hel with the freed souls, Thor prepared to protect their flank at Gjallerbru (the bridge at Hel's boundary), but a redemption-seeking Skurge stuck down Thor and took his place. Armed with automatic weapons from Earth, Skurge met Hel's ceaseless armies, using guns as clubs and then bare hands when bullets ran out. Though Skurge perished in the effort, none of Hela's forces touched the bridge, and Skurge's stand became legend. Hela kept Skurge imprisoned in Hel before releasing him to Valhalla (home of the honored dead). Skurge later suggested Amora save her dying sister, Lorelei, from Hela by dying in her stead and being reunited with him. When Amora refused, Skurge angrily hurled his re-formed ax at her feet before departing. Seeking a protective champion, Amora briefly granted the Executioner's ax, form and power to prisoner "Brute" Benhurst until Thor defeated him. Amora did so again (with Benhurst or another) against Dr. Strange, but both Amora and her Executioner were defeated by Strange and his sorceress wife, Clea. Hela later plotted to slay Odin via the Deathsword, created under duress by the dwarf Eitri, imprisoning the Einherjar (Valhalla's warriors), including Skurge. Liberated by the heroic young New Mutants (former Xavier School trainees) and Eitri, the Einherjar opposed Hela's forces until the Deathsword was destroyed via an Eitri-designed flaw. Amora later lost Skurge's ax on Earth during an enemy ambush; it was found by architect Jackie Lukus, who was transformed into an Executioner duplicate. Corrupted by the Ax's evil, accumulated via Skurge's misdeeds, Lukus adopted the Bloodaxe identity. Thunderstrike (Eric Masterson) eventually defeated Bloodaxe, and claimed the ax, hoping to defeat the powerful Egyptian death god Seth. Corrupted by the ax, Thunderstrike savagely overpowered Seth and then assaulted the Avengers. Skurge met Masterson within his mind and helped guide Masterson to oppose the Bloodaxe persona; ultimately, Masterson sacrificed himself to stop Bloodaxe. Hela later granted a demon Skurge's form and power, but Thor - having accessed the Odin-power following Odin's recent death - sent the impostor back to Hela's realm, claimed the ax and returned to Asgard. Thor soon after used the ax to stop god-slayer Desak. Yearning for Skurge, Amora cast a spell to cause Skurge to be reborn through the dimension-spanning tree Yggdrasil, which warped and threatened all reality. Thor, Balder and Loki tracked Amora to Yggdrasil, and Thor - knowing Skurge would be dishonored to return thusly - used Skurge's ax to destroy his nigh-emergent wooden form. | Powers = While in Casiolena's realm, Skurge could fire energy blasts and enchant prisons. | Abilities = Skurge has a hunting falcon's visual acuity. An experienced equestrian and milityary strategist, Skurge also mastered automatic weapons and learned to pilot Heinrich Zemo's airship. | Strength = Skurge possesses superhuman strength (lifting 65 tons), durability (resisting 0.50-caliber machine gunfire), speed, stamina, healing and longevity (millennia lifespan), plus athletic agility and reflexes. | Weaknesses = | Equipment = Made of "meteorite metal," Skurge's gloves were highly durable and enhanced his striking force. | Transportation = | Weapons = Skurge wielded a 280-lbs. double-bladed ax with a 3'-handle and 2'-wide blade called The Bloodaxe. | Notes = }}